All four mobile operators in the country experienced a decrease of subscription for the second consecutive month in August, according to data published by the Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory commission.
According to the data, the total number of active mobile subscribers in Bangladesh in August was 19.24 crore, which was 18 lakh less than that of 19.42 crore in July.
The BTRC calculates the total number of mobile users by adding new SIM card purchases and removing SIMs that have been inactive for over 18 months.
Despite the drop from the previous month, the number of mobile users in August was still 38 lakh higher than that in the same period of 2023.
The number of total mobile users gradually rose for five consecutive months before July, according to the BTRC data.
In Bangladesh, the number of mobile subscribers is higher than the population, but the actual number of individual users is much lower.
This is due to a rule which allows each person to own up to 15 SIM cards, which inflates the subscriber count.
A global report by the GSM Association, also known as Global System for Mobile Communications, revealed that Bangladesh had a 20 per cent gender gap in mobile phone ownership.
According to the Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2023, 59.9 per cent of the country鈥檚 population owned mobile phones. However, there was a significant difference between men and women in terms of ownership.
The statistics showed that 69.3 per cent of men in Bangladesh had mobile phones, while only 50.9 per cent of women owned them, highlighting the gender disparity.
In urban areas, mobile phone ownership among males and females was 72.7 and 62.1 per cent respectively, while in rural areas it was 68.2 per cent and 47.4 per cent, it showed.
Of the four telecom operators, Banglalink lost the most number of customers. It lost about 11 lakh users, bringing the number of total Banglalink SIM users down to 4.24 crore in August, compared with that of 4.35 crore in the previous month, the BTRC data revealed.
Robi Axiata lost about 6 lakh active mobile connections, lowering its total subscriber number to 5.83 crore, compared with that of 5.89 crore in July.
Grameenphone, the largest telecom operator in Bangladesh, recorded a decrease as well in terms of mobile subscribers. According to the BTRC data, it lost about 2 lakh customers in August, letting its total number of subscribers lower down to 8.50 crore, compared with that of 8.52 crore in July.
State-owned telecom operator Teletalk also experienced a slight loss in its active connections as its mobile subscribers decreased by about 20,000 in August.
